Go Right Through for MSU!!

I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time.  Two posts in two days! 

Anyway, this past weekend, we decided to take the kids to their first MSU game.  We figured it was the perfect weekend since we were only playing Northern Colorado (not a very good team), and because it wasn't too cold out yet.  If were against a good team, the crowd would be a lot rowdier and packed!  So, this was perfect!  We decked them out in their MSU gear.  They were so cute and had an absolute blast.

Sydney decided to sit with Grandma Polly and Grandpa Joe, so we took Lizzy with us to our seats.  We actually got to watch the game because Lizzy was really busy eating Cheerios, licorice, skittles, fruit roll-up, Nutrigrain bar, cheez-its and a hot dog...she can still put food away like a champ!  One day it will catch up to her.  Everyone thought she was cute and she clapped and cheered when everyone else did!

For the second half, since it was already to the point where we were slaughtering the other team, there were plenty of seats opened up where Sydney was sitting, so we moved to their seats and sat with our family for the rest of the game.  It was fun to watch the kids cheer, dance and sing together.  It turned out to be the perfect MSU outing...and we won, of course!!

On Sunday, since Sydney wants to go somewhere everyday ( I swear, no matter what day of the week it is, she always asks what we are going to do that night, as if I didn't work all day!) we took the kids to the Franklin Cider mill!  We met Julie, Adrian, baby Finley, and Julie's parents there.  Apple Cider and donuts are always good, I never get sick of it.  Lizzy liked the huge water wheel, she kept going back to look at it.  Somehow Sydney convinced us that needed to get a tattoo on her face, and daddy gave in!  It was cute though, she picked a little unicorn.  We had a really good time.

Later in the day, Sydney really wanted to go to Adrian's soccer game, so I took her while Lizzy was still napping and Jason was watching football.  She seemed to enjoy watching, so I asked her if one day she might want to play football. I told her it would be good to play on a team sport and learn the rules. And her response, which was totally unprovoked was, "no, I think I'll just be a cheerleader.  Those kids are getting really tired running around, and I don't want to get tired."  So we'll see...I guess she's not destined to be a soccer star...but I do want her to play on some sort of team!  I guess cheerleading could be considered a sport...I dunno...but not for 4 year olds!

To top off the great weekend, I won my football league for the week...no thanks to the Lions, who didn't even cover the spread...guess I didn't need them anyway, so ha!

Happy Birthday to Us!!

Well, just as I knew would happen, I've been slacking on the blog postings, but better late then never!  So, I'm backtracking all the way to September 9th (only 19 days ago, not too bad) to when Lizzy and I shared OUR birthday.  I know, it's pretty much Lizzy's day now, but we're trying to teach her to share just a little.

Since our birthday fell on a Thursday, we really couldn't do that much, but I wanted to do something for Lizzy.  I made sure I put little birthday signs all over the walls for her when she woke up that morning.  She was excited to see the Wiggles, Elmo, Barney, and Mickey Mouse hanging on the walls.  She walked around and kissed all of them.  They actually stayed up for two weeks, she loved them so much!  Anyway, Jason spent the day with kids that day since daycare was closed for Rosh Hashanah...I worked, as usual.

That night Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Eliot, and Josh (who was in town for a couple weeks following his Africa trip) joined us at Jungle Java so the kids could run around and do something fun!  They actually had a blast.  Sydney was acting all motherly that day and helped out all of the little kids who were there playing there.  Although, Lizzy was on her own.  I guess Sydney only wanted to help out other kids who she didn't know...who knows?

After much debate over whether or not the kids would eat Chinese food, we went next door to Shangri-La.  Afterall, they can't eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets every day!  They were both really good, and surprisingly enough, they actually tried things.  Lizzy LOVED edamame...we even had to order more.  She loved the sizzling rice soup too, she kept saying, "mmmmmmmm, soup."  She also enjoyed the rice and noodles too.  Every time the waitress brought something out she would say, "oh, thank you".  She thought everything was for her.  The funniest part was when they brought out the sushi.  They brought it out on a nice big platter and it looked all pretty.  Lizzy said, "ohhhhhhh, cake."  We told her was sushi, and that she probably wouldn't like it, but she insisted on eating the "cake".  So, we gave her a piece, and just as I thought, she said, "I don't like sushi cake."  But hey, she tried it.  Sydney ate a little bit of chicken and rice, so everyone was happy and I got to eat ONE of my favorite meals...since everything is my favorite.  We will definitely have to take the kids for Chinese again, it was a good experience.

Then, present time!  Lizzy pretty much already got all of her presents at her party, so this part was more for me.  Jason went to Nordstrom and picked out a pair of shoes for me.  I was very impressed that he actually did that.  I never would have guessed that I was getting shoes, so it was a surprise...and a nice one.  He did a good job...he actually was listening one day when I was babbling that I had nothing to wear with brown...however, I ended up getting the same pair in black.  But, not because I didn't like them, but because he bought me the wrong size and they didn't have my size in the color he bought.  But black is better for me anyway, I will get way more use out of the shoes.  I get a TON of compliments on them.  I still want to get a subscription to Shoedazzle.com where they send you a shoe of the month...so I'll drop a subtle hint here in case anyone out there is reading this and can't think of anything to buy me for the next time I might need a gift!  My mom bought me earrings and my dad gave me money which I put towards a new dining room table.

Lizzy and I had a wonderful birthday together.  I'm looking forward to many more!

Labor Day Weekend

Wow...what a busy weekend, but oh so fun!  Jason and I started the weekend out right with a little trip to East Lansing to watch the Spartans win the first game of the season!  This is the first year we bought season tickets, so there better be many more wins in our future.  Not only do I like to go to winning games, but Jason is not a happy camper when any of his teams lose, so it just makes for a better day all around if they win all of the time!  Sydney and Lizzy stayed home with Grandma Sharon and Uncle Josh!  The kids even got all decked out in their favorite MSU gear to cheer them on from home!

The next day was the big day!  We decided this year to combine Sydney and Lizzy's birthday parties since their birthday's are a month apart.  For the most part they have all of the same friends right now, so why go through the hassle of planning two parties, right?  It's just double the food, double the money, and double the amount of work.  Anyway...it was the BEST party.  We had it at Franklin Athletic Club.  It was so perfect because it accomodated all of the age groups that we had there.  They blew up a bounce house, a huge slide, a rock climbing wall, an obstacle course, and had little balls and toys for the really little kids.  The best part, in my opinion, is that we had the entire place to ourselves.  I hate going to Chuck E. Cheese with all of the parties going on and all of the chaos.  This party was just for us and everyone there was there for my kids and it was so much fun.  The staff there was excellent too.  They set up and decorated everything, they served the food, they gathered up all of the presents for us...it was just really stress free on my end, and I was able to actually enjoy the party...oh AND my house wasn't trashed as in previous years.

We invited family back to the house and had the kids open their presents at home.  I figured that kids really don't care about presents unless they are for them.  So, I gave the kids more time to bounce at the party and then opened up the presents at home where we could actually read the cards and tell the kids who got them what!  They received some awesome presents.  It really was a great day with family and friends!

And last but not least, Labor Day.  Last year we went to the Temple Israel carnival and had so much fun that we went again this year.  The weather didn't really cooperate but we managed to get a little fun in.  It's so amazing...the whole event is free...free food, free bounce houses, free pony rides, free train rides, etc.....maybe that's why every Jewish person in town goes to this event...I probably shouldn't say that, but oh well, I just did!  We met up with Jake and Jennifer there, but it was hard to actually stay together because all of the kids wanted to do different things.  Lizzy had her first pony ride!  She was pretty nervous the whole time, but she stayed on.  The horse ended up pooping, which is what she remembers about the whole carnival.  When she talks to anyone on the phone she says, "Ewww, the horse pooped", as if anyone has any clue what she's talking about!  And then when the rain came, we kind of bolted without saying goodbye.  I felt bad, but we couldn't find them, and well, I kind of melt in the rain...darn curly hair!!  So the day kind of ended early, but I had a lot to do around the house anyway and had to get prepared for Sydney's first day of school.  Stay tuned...

Miss Independent!

Wow, how quickly they change!  Lizzy just went from a sweet little innocent girl who didn't care what she ate, what we were doing, or where we were dragging her, to a self sufficient toddler with an attitude!  If you give her a green cup, she wanted a pink one.  If you put on Elmo, she wanted the Wiggles.  If you give her a sandwich, she wanted a hot dog!  It's a constant battle these days to get her to eat her dinner when not to long ago I stated that she would eat anything!  Now her favorite phrase is, "I don't like it" and throws it on the floor for the dog.  So, she has had many days of no dessert for not eating her dinner!

And I don't know why all kids go through the phase where they have to do every little thing by themselves!  I remember Sydney did the same thing, and she still does, which is probably where Lizzy gets it from.  It just makes everything take longer.  Lizzy likes to get in the car by herself, which is hard since she can't reach, but she sees Sydney doing it.  Then, she has to buckle the carseat by herself.  She clearly can't do any of these things, she is way too small, so everyday she has a tantrum because I helped her get into the car.  Then, she cries over the music.  My strange child likes Mama Mia, so if Sydney picks a song she doesn't like, she just cries, "I don't want that" until you finally put on something that she is satisfied with.  Then when we get out of the car, she has to climb down by herself and shut the door by herself, which usually results in her banging her head.  Then she rubs it into Sydney's face..."I closed the door Sydney, and you didn't".  I don't know why she says that because Sydney doesn't even care...she closes her own door!  I think she likes to be the boss and tell people like it is!  When we go outside to play, she tells the dog, "you're not going Savannah" and shakes her little finger at her.  Or when she is watching her show, she will say to me or whoever is making too much noise, "you go in the other room".  She even tells Sydney what to do, and oddly enough, most of the time Sydney plays or does what she says.

The other day I was taking the garbage out and she was waiting for me, but she said it was hot (which it really was) and that she was going inside to watch the Wiggles.  So, she banged on the door for someone to let her in, and I'll be darned...she went into the playroom, got out the Wiggles, put it in the DVD player, and pushed play.  Then I heard her say to herself, "I'm firsty" (thirsty), and she went in the kitchen, opened up the fridge (which she never used to be able to do), got out her cup and went back to watch her show!  Guess I'm useless these days, she can do everything herself.  Not really, of course, but it's amazing how much she can do all of a sudden.  Even little things like turning on the water when she brushes her teeth, a meltdown if I do it.  Or getting into the bathtub.  I am so scared that she will slip and bang her head, but she insists that she is getting in by herself.  I still hover over her though...she is growing up way too fast!

The up side to all of this is that she completely wears herself out and is still my good little sleeper!  The only caveat to that is she has to have specfic blankets or stuffed toys in her bed.  Every morning, there is a pile on the floor of any blanket or toy that didn't make the cut for that night.  But once she is comfortable, and we've sang a song or two, she is out for the night!  She tends to sing to herself in bed for a while, but she doesn't bother us and is quite content entertaining herself!  We even have to wake her up in the morning!  I better knock on wood that her sleeping pattern continues!

We will have to see what happens when she actually turns two!  Stay tuned!